An Unlikely Friendship
by KhaleesiHufflepuff
Summary: Hermione has always helped Harry on his adventures, but she wonders what it would be like to be in the spotlight for once. When she overhears a devious plot, she has to team up with the person she hates the most; Draco. Will these two tear each other apart? Will Hermione's friends help her? Read to find out!
1. Chapter 1

Hermione Granger loved her friends dearly and was glad to help them

whenever they needed her wits and cleverness, but for once in her life, she'd like to get the attention that her best friend Harry always received. It was just a silly little dream and that's all, she told herself, but deep down she wondered what it would be like to be "the Chosen One".

"Hermione, what are you thinking about now?" Ron asked, interrupting her

thoughts. They were studying in the library, well _she _was studying in the library. Harry and Ron were playing Wizard's Chess for the millionth time. Hermione couldn't believe how her friends could love such a barbaric game so much that they would play it over and over and over again! If only she could introduce them to the joys of reading, oh! They could start a book club! If only…

"Hermione?" Ron's voice startled her again.

"Oh— what did you say?" She asked, knocking over her bottle of ink and

spilling it all over her parchment. She sighed in frustration, she'd have to start her essay on Sleeping Draughts all over again! At least it wasn't due until next week, but to stay on track she'd have to do her Ancient Runes homework earlier than scheduled.

"Don't worry, I'll get it." Harry smiled at her and cleaned up her mess before

she could even touch it. For some reason she felt guilty about her dreams of being admired and praised, but she didn't know why. They were just dreams after all.

Ron chuckled and teased, "Hermione, where has your head been today? A bit

too full of crazy?"

Hermione snapped back to reality and replied "At least my head is filled,

_Ronald, _unlike yours." Before Ron could respond with some _very _witty remark, Hermione assumed, he was interrupted by Harry who told them of a new conspiracy theory he was concocting. Hermione tried not to yawn. Though Harry's hunches were usually correct, they came about quite often and one could get bored of them after hearing them all the time.

"—and Hagrid told me that all the grass on the front lawn has DIED." Harry

said gravely. Ron looked shocked, but Hermione was bewildered at the serious tone of the subject.

"Dead… grass? That's the big emergency?" She asked skeptically.

"Hermione! Hogwarts is _magic_, grass doesn't just die. There has to be some

reason behind it." Harry said confidently.

"It must be Voldemort!" Ron chimed in, He was always trying to make himself

helpful which Hermione admired… but the whole conversation was absurd.

"You think that Voldemort killed the grass?" She said very slowly, trying to get

the boys to figure out on their own that they were going completely insane.

"That's the only explanation!" Harry exclaimed like the idea that Voldemort

was poisoning the grass was so obvious that everyone should have figured it out by now.

"I think I'm going to go to bed now." Hermione said, cleaning up her stuff. She

had had enough of this conversation for one night and she needed some time away from the boys.

"But it's so early!" Ron whined. Hermione checked her watch, it was nine

o'clock.

"It's a school night and we have a Herbology quiz tomorrow, which I hope you

both studied for." She gave them a knowing look and they shrugged sheepishly.

"I studied!" Ron said defensively.

"Sure you did," she rolled her eyes, "goodnight boys!" She grabbed her

belongings and headed out of the library, which was closing soon anyway. She bet that Harry and Ron would be kicked out in the next half hour. She walked down the long corridors by herself, lost in her thoughts like usual. Sometimes it was hard to talk to her friends because they weren't interested in the same things she was. They never cared about S.P.E.W or books like Hogwarts: A History, and sometimes it made Hermione feel very lonely when she considered the fact that she was the only one in the world who liked those things.

The corridors gradually started to become darker and darker and Hermione

was just about to take out her wand to cast Lumos, a light spell, when she heard two people talking in harsh tones to each other just around the corner from her.

"Hogwarts is never safe, so why is it still open?" The first voice asked.

"Dumbledore is stubborn, as long as he is around, the school will never

close." The second voice sounded eager to help, a lot like Ron did around Harry.

"Are you suggesting we assassinate Dumbledore, you moron? Dumbledore is

the most powerful wizard alive!" The first voice snarled.

"No, no! I would never! I-I—"

"Stop your insolent babbling, someone could hear us."

Hermione suppressed a gasp, hoping that they wouldn't find her.

"Why'd you choose to meet in a _public place_, you idiot?" The first voice asked.

"I-I'm sorry, forgive me." The second voice begged.

"Let's get out of here and I'll consider it." Hermione heard footsteps and

assumed that the first voice was walking away. She quickly enchanted the space around her so they wouldn't see her, she would blend in with her surroundings.

"Are you coming or not?" The first voice snapped.

"Yes sir." The second pair of footsteps followed obediently. The two men

passed Hermione without even glancing her way. She studied their faces to the best of her ability and felt like she knew the first face somewhere, but she couldn't put her finger on it. He was tall and skinny with sharp features, but she couldn't see him very well because of the darkness. As for the either man, he was short and had spiky hair. Hermione didn't know him at all.

She waited in the darkness until the sound of their footsteps couldn't be heard

anymore, and then she hurried down the hallway. As she walked quickly down the hallway, her mind was racing. Were they evil? Were they working for You-Know-Who, or were they other people who wanted Hogwarts' downfall? Why? Hermione was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see the figure heading towards her until they collided into each other.

"Ow! What the-" The other person exclaimed. Hermione knew that voice, she

looked up and glared at the boy with disgust, "Draco." She said curtly.

"Ugh, mudblood." He rolled his eyes, but he looked a bit shaken up, Hermione

didn't know if it was because of the collision or maybe… had he heard the men speaking too?

"What are you doing out here, by yourself?" Hermione asked, trying not to

give any information away.

"How's that any of your business?" He spat at her. There was no point in

trying to talk to him, he was insufferable and no amount of politeness would ever change that.

"Forget that I ever asked." Hermione sighed and continued down the hallway.

She took a few steps until she heard him call out, "Hey!" from behind her.

"This is gonna sound stupid, but did you hear anything just now?" Draco

asked.

Hermione turned around and glared at him, "just the sound of your obnoxious

voice."

"You didn't hear anything before you ran into me?" Draco asked again,

Hermione noticed that he had a scared look in his eye.

"Why? Did you hear anything?" She took a step closer.

"Yes, actually, but I won't tell you what I heard unless you tell me what you

heard first." He said defiantly.

"Fine," Hermione sighed, what did she have to lose? "I heard two men plotting

to take down Hogwarts. Now your turn."

"I heard two men planning to slaughter the pure bloods." Draco said shakily.

"What?! Why would anyone… that doesn't make any sense." Hermione

mumbled to herself, trying to figure out what was going on. "Are you tricking me? If this is a joke, Draco, I swear I will—"

"Does it look like I'm joking? I thought maybe you would know something

because it's obviously your kind that's planning to do this." Draco said.

"I can't defend murderers, but I understand _why _they'd want to do this, with

you and those snobbish pure bloods looking down on the rest of us all the time… that's still no excuse. We have to do something about this!" Hermione exclaimed.

"So what should we do? You're supposed to be the 'smart' one, right?" He

asked.

"You're not gonna like this… but I think we've got to talk to Harry." She told

him.

"Why? What's Potter got to do with this?" Draco asked, his host scrunching up

in disgust.

"Dumbledore takes everything Harry says seriously. If we can convince Harry,

we can convince Dumbledore." She explained. Draco sighed, she could tell that he didn't like this plan at all. If he told his friends about any of this, they'd think he was crazy. He was stuck with her.

"Fine. We'll work together until this is over and purebloods are safe. Deal?"

Draco stuck out his hand. Hermione hesitated, she'd have to put up with his snide remarks and insults for awhile… but maybe, just maybe, she could change him. That's why she reached out her hand, shook his, and replied, "Deal."


	2. Chapter 2

"Sorry, but no." Harry said without looking up from his eggs. Hermione and Draco had to wait all night to tell Harry what had happened, and finally they had tracked him to the dining hall and gave him their big presentation about how students were in danger… and Harry said no?

"Why? You have to help! You have to believe us!" Hermione pleaded with him.

"No offense Hermione, but did this guy put some sort of stupid spell over you? I'm serious! Why would I believe anything that Draco tells me?" Harry shrugged.

"Harry! That's awful! Yes Draco is…" Hermione glanced over at her reluctant ally, "... Draco, but I swear I'm not under any spell! This is the truth!"

"I'm sorry, I'm just really busy! I save the world EVERY YEAR from Voldemort—" the table gasped, "it's just a name!" Harry exclaimed. "Anyway, saving the world from You-Know-Who takes up a lot of time, this year I wanted to get a head start." He explained.

"How?" Hermione asked.

"Well, Ron and I are trying to figure out his scheme this year. I think it has something to do with the grass on the front lawn. You can help if you want!" Harry offered cheerily, "you know we can't do it without you!"

Hermione was speechless. Her best friends didn't believe her! She felt hurt even though she knew Harry didn't mean to.

"What the heck Potter! I always knew you were awful, but I thought you liked to _help _people." Draco burst.

"That's what I'm trying to do, _Malfoy_, but your practical jokes aren't helping. Tricking Hermione like this is a new low, even for you." Harry turned to look at Hermione and said, "C'mon Hermione, we saved you a seat."

"I'm sorry Harry, but this is serious. It isn't a trick, people's lives are at stake!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah Potter, don't come running to us when the wizards who want to kill you get here, you're technically a pure blood too, remember?" Draco sneered.

"I'm nothing like you." Harry replied.

"Please Harry." Hermione begged him one last time.

"Are you coming to help with this grass problem or not?" He looked up at her with hopeful eyes. Hermione stared at him in awe, how could someone be so oblivious?

"No." She replied softly and turned away. She ran outside of the Great Hall and Draco followed. She sat down on a bench in the courtyard.

"Come on! We have to tell Dumbledore, right? That's what you said!" Draco urged her.

"If Harry doesn't believe me, why would Dumbledore? I don't even know if I believe me. I sound like I'm crazy." She sighed in defeat.

"Potter's an idiot, I know he's your friend, but he's an idiot. So is Weasley. You can't let them stop you! People will die if we don't fix this, we have to at least try." Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her up from the bench.

"All of a sudden you're the complete opposite of the Draco I thought I knew. What happened?" Hermione asked, was she rubbing off on him?

"I just don't want to die, Granger, don't read too much into it." Draco rolled his eyes. "Let's go, I'd love to see the look on the Chosen One's face when Dumbledore helps us and we save everyone."

Hermione lead Draco to a statue of a griffin and said, "this is where Dumbledore's office is."

"You can't tell me that Dumbledore doesn't have house favoritism," Draco said, eyeing the giant griffin statue.

Hermione ignored him and tried to think. What was Dumbledore's new favorite candy? "Lemon drops?" She mused out loud. "Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans? Jellied Slugs? Chocolate Frogs?" She named countless candies, but the passage to Dumbledore's office didn't appear.

"Are you hungry or something?" Draco asked, bewildered. "I think I have a stash of Sugar Quills in my room—"

The passage to Dumbledore's office revealed itself and Hermione smiled. Sugar Quills!

"Thank you! Who knew that you could be useful?" She smiled and walked down the passage.

"Haha, very funny… what did I do?" Draco asked and followed her down the hallway.

Hermione knocked on the door three times but there was no answer.

"Professor Dumbledore? Headmaster?" She called out. The door swung open and they entered warily. The office was filled with all sorts of trinkets and books. It was cluttered but there was a sort of system to the mess. The only thing the office didn't have was Dumbledore himself.

"Where is he?" Draco asked.

"And where is Faux? Faux is always here." Hermione muttered.

"Fox? I thought he had a pet Phoenix!" Draco chuckled at his bad joke. She raised an eyebrow at him and he stopped.

"I don't know if we should be here…" Hermione worried.

"You scared, Granger?" Draco teased her. She ignored him. Something felt wrong. Suddenly she heard the sound of the passage showing itself to someone else. She assumed it was Dumbledore until she heard two familiar voices. She looked over at Draco and he looked like he was paralyzed.

"Hide!" She whispered. She ran over to a big oak wardrobe and swung the doors open. A couple cloaks were hanging inside and there seemed like enough room to squeeze two people in. She gestured to Draco, waving him over. He came and they hopped inside the wardrobe. They shut the doors just as the two wizards entered.

"Ahh, Dumbledore's office!" The tall one exclaimed.

"No ship Sherlock." The short one muttered.

"The expression is— ugh never mind." The tall one turned towards Dumbledore's Pensieve, a large shallow dish made out of metal that allow the user to re-live memories.

"What's the one we want?" The short one asked, gesturing to the bottles of memories on the shelves.

"It's labeled P, that's what the boss said anyway. I don't know how you can find anything in this place, it's a pig sty." They searched through the shelves, knocking a few of the bottles and sending them crashing down.

"Aha! I found it!" The tall one said after awhile. Hermione peered through the crack between the doors of the wardrobe.

"Ow you're sleeping on my foot!" Draco whispered.

"What was that?" The short one asked, heading Draco's complain. Hermione put her hand over Draco's mouth.

"You must be hearing voices in your head again, Smith, 'cuz I hear nothing and I got some great hearing." The tall one said.

"Let's get out of here," Smith (The short one) said, "this place creeps me out."

"It's not like Dumbledore's coming back anytime soon, we made sure of that huh, didn't we?" The tall one chuckled.

"Ohh you were great! Your plan was so smart!" Smith said in awe as they walked out. Hermione strained to hear more, but it was no use, they were too far away. She opened the doors to the wardrobe and let themselves out.

"It was so stuffy in there!" Draco complained and coughed.

"Didn't you hear what they were talking about?" Hermione asked.

"Some of it, until I'm pretty sure some sort of closet pixie started poking me." Draco coughed again. Sure enough, a pixie zoomed out of the wardrobe and out the open window.

"Well, you weren't lying." Hermione shrugged.

"What's the plan? You have a plan B, right?" Draco asked.

"Um…" she didn't really have a plan B, she had just assumed that Dumbledore was going to be there like he always was. She tried to go over everything she had just heard in her head.

"We need to figure out what the memory was, the one that they took. It was labelled P, but for what? Potter? Pure bloods?"

"Pixie? Patronus?" Draco suggested.

"No… wait actually… patronus! Recently I heard that a book from the library about patronuses went missing! That's no coincidence." Hermione exclaimed.

"So what do we do?" He asked.

"We go to the library of course." Hermione replied.


End file.
